French Theory is due for an insider critique, and in Requiem for French Theory, Aymeric Monville and Gabriel Rockhill do just that. Drawing upon decades of studying French philosophy in Paris, they build upon the best Marxist criticisms of postmodernism, while further developing them by situating postmodern theory within the global political economy of knowledge and U.S.-driven intellectual imperialism. The result is a broad dialogue on topics ranging from international class struggle and the dissemination of ideology, to fascism, identity politics, dialectics, actually existing socialism, and among others.

Requiem for French Theory soundly criticizes this tradition’s chameleonic ideological permutations under new names, such as postcolonial thought, decolonial theory, new materialism, and other trendsetting discourses. But it also reveals how these theoretical developments are all part of a broader anticommunist cultural front. Most importantly, Monville and Rockhill develop the positive project of anti-imperialist Marxism as the ultimate antidote to French theoretical sophistry. Far from indulging in the political defeatism characteristic of the Western Marxist critiques of postmodernism, this intellectual exchange issues a clarion call for revitalizing revolutionary theory and putting it into practice. 

Aymeric Monville is the founder of Éditions Delga (Paris) and a specialist in political philosophy. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Neocapitalism According to Michel Clouscard 

Gabriel Rockhill is the founding director of the Critical Theory Workshop (CTW), professor at Villanova University, and research associate at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS)

Jennifer Ponce de León is associate director of the CTW and Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.